What I dislike about ME 3 (other than the ending)

[jensenthejman]

I want to start off by saying that I thought Mass Effect 3 was great. Some of the best dialogue and game-play in the whole series. However, other than the atrocious ending, it has its share of other problems -- or at least what I found as problems. Also, be warned. There are some spoilers.

1. The Crucible: Why the hell have we never heard of this thing before? It was never mentioned once in the entire series, and then gets introduced so casually, as if most people knew about it all along. That and the Catalyst. Bioware said several times pre-release that there wouldn't be "some magical Reaper off button." Basically meaning no Deus Ex Machina plot device; yet that's exactly what we got.

2. ME 2 characters (and Wrex) getting the shaft: Another thing we were promised was that other characters would return for certain missions, like in Lair of the Shadow Broker. But that didn't happen. What we got was those characters returning, being exciting by getting to use them, and then they just did their own thing in the background while you and the squad you do have handle the hard part. Bioware knew that people wanted Wrex and others like Legion as squad members, but we didn't get them. Yeah, they get to hang around on the Normandy, but why can't you take them with you as long as they're on the ship? Others just flat out refuse to help you at all, because apparently what they've got going on is more important than saving all of galactic civilization. I wanted characters like Wrex and Mordin and Legion, as well as a few others. But that goes to my next problem...

3. James Vega: Oh god... Just... oh god. Why did they feel like this character was necessary? I would have preferred... ANYONE ELSE to him. I tried to give this character a chance, I really did. But no matter what, I found him to be so irritating. Listening to Freddie Prinz Jr. trying to sound Spanish is just cringe-worthy. I remember him being described as representative of new players to the series. Well, what a nice way of pandering to new players who are starting a trilogy at the end. Some may like him, and that's okay, but I didn't care for him at all.

4. People seem to somehow know that Liara is the Shadow Broker: This is really only made apparent twice, but it's still noticeable all the same. Wrex makes a comment on Sur'Kesh about it in front of Liara, and I was just like "How does he know? He wasn't there. Did somebody tell him?". The Illusive Man also makes a comment on the matter later in the game. I can somewhat understand how he would know, seeing as how information is his weapon of choice and all of that, but it still seems rather suspicious. For two games straight until the ME 2 DLC nobody had any idea who the Shadow Broker was. How is it more available information now? If someone knows the answers to my questions on this matter, please inform me.

5. Udina as the human councilor: Thanks Bioware for making my choice from ME 1 mean absolutely nothing. There is a point when it is discovered that Udina is an undercover Cerberus agent. (Wow, who saw that coming, except everyone.) And there is an assassination attempt on the council. During this whole sequence, I just kept repeating: "This shit wouldn't have happened if Anderson was councilor, like I picked him to be". It just feels contrived.

Those are my main problems with the game overall. Again, I thought that the game was great, and these are some of my thoughts on it. Feel free to share your thoughts or your thoughts on my thoughts. (Now there's a mind-fuck. lol)

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

1. I agree. I mean, I know it must be hard to think of a way to defeat the Reapers, but they could have made it a bit more intriguing at least.

2. Didn't really bother me so much as I was kind of expecting it. With so many different characters that all needed their moment of glory in ME3 of course they couldn't do a whole LotSB for each one. I'm just happy I got to see so many, and while their moments may have been short, they never felt rushed (for me anyway).

3. Against all my prior instincts, he actually grew on me. He wasn't my favorite but I found him very likable in a tongue in cheek sort of way. When you have characters like Javik and Garrus (although don't get me wrong Garrus is awesome) playing the role of the jaded old warrior, James's enthusiasm was kind of a breath of fresh air for me. His banter with Cortez was actually pretty funny too.

4. As far as I can tell looking back the only person outside of your circle who knew was Liara's 'father'. I took Wrex's dialogue to mean that he'd figured out that the Shadow Broker was someone he knew, but didn't actually know for sure who it was, especially as he didn't know that Mordin was the inside source. I may be wrong though but that's just how I interpreted it.

5. That one pissed me off, as it did piss all over what I had intended just for their own plot convenience. I didn't actually see his betrayal coming though. Udina was always a bastard, but I never had him pegged as that. Whatever else he was, he'd always done things by the book before. I also wouldn't have believed he had the balls to take such a risk.

 

[jensenthejman]

1. I agree. I mean, I know it must be hard to think of a way to defeat the Reapers, but they could have made it a bit more intriguing at least.

2. Didn't really bother me so much as I was kind of expecting it. With so many different characters that all needed their moment of glory in ME3 of course they couldn't do a whole LotSB for each one. I'm just happy I got to see so many, and while their moments may have been short, they never felt rushed (for me anyway).

3. Against all my prior instincts, he actually grew on me. He wasn't my favorite but I found him very likable in a tongue in cheek sort of way. When you have characters like Javik and Garrus (although don't get me wrong Garrus is awesome) playing the role of the jaded old warrior, James's enthusiasm was kind of a breath of fresh air for me. His banter with Cortez was actually pretty funny too.

4. As far as I can tell looking back the only person outside of your circle who knew was Liara's 'father'. I took Wrex's dialogue to mean that he'd figured out that the Shadow Broker was someone he knew, but didn't actually know for sure who it was, especially as he didn't know that Mordin was the inside source. I may be wrong though but that's just how I interpreted it.

5. That one pissed me off, as it did piss all over what I had intended just for their own plot convenience. I didn't actually see his betrayal coming though. Udina was always a bastard, but I never had him pegged as that. Whatever else he was, he'd always done things by the book before. I also wouldn't have believed he had the balls to take such a risk.

Udina was always a humanity first type of guy. So it didn't surprise me at all. Many others also predicted that this would happen before the game came out. That may also be true about Wrex's dialogue, but I don't know. And that's true, James' banter with Cortez was funny at times.

 

[boag]

I want to start off by saying that I thought Mass Effect 3 was great. Some of the best dialogue and game-play in the whole series. However, other than the atrocious ending, it has its share of other problems -- or at least what I found as problems. Also, be warned. There are some spoilers.

1. The Crucible: Why the hell have we never heard of this thing before? It was never mentioned once in the entire series, and then gets introduced so casually, as if most people knew about it all along. That and the Catalyst. Bioware said several times pre-release that there wouldn't be "some magical Reaper off button." Basically meaning no Deus Ex Machina plot device; yet that's exactly what we got.

2. ME 2 characters (and Wrex) getting the shaft: Another thing we were promised was that other characters would return for certain missions, like in Lair of the Shadow Broker. But that didn't happen. What we got was those characters returning, being exciting by getting to use them, and then they just did their own thing in the background while you and the squad you do have handle the hard part. Bioware knew that people wanted Wrex and others like Legion as squad members, but we didn't get them. Yeah, they get to hang around on the Normandy, but why can't you take them with you as long as they're on the ship? Others just flat out refuse to help you at all, because apparently what they've got going on is more important than saving all of galactic civilization. I wanted characters like Wrex and Mordin and Legion, as well as a few others. But that goes to my next problem...

3. James Vega: Oh god... Just... oh god. Why did they feel like this character was necessary? I would have preferred... ANYONE ELSE to him. I tried to give this character a chance, I really did. But no matter what, I found him to be so irritating. Listening to Freddie Prinz Jr. trying to sound Spanish is just cringe-worthy. I remember him being described as representative of new players to the series. Well, what a nice way of pandering to new players who are starting a trilogy at the end. Some may like him, and that's okay, but I didn't care for him at all.

4. Everyone seems to know that Liara is the Shadow Broker: This is really only made apparent twice, but it's still noticeable all the same. Wrex makes a comment on Sur'Kesh about it in front of Liara, and I was just like "How does he know? He wasn't there. Did somebody tell him?". The Illusive Man also makes a comment on the matter later in the game. I can somewhat understand how he would know, seeing as how information is his weapon of choice and all of that, but it still seems rather suspicious. For two games straight until the ME 2 DLC nobody had any idea who the Shadow Broker was. How is it more available information now? If someone knows the answers to my questions on this matter, please inform me.

5. Udina as the human councilor: Thanks Bioware for making my choice from ME 1 mean absolutely nothing. There is a point when it is discovered that Udina is an undercover Cerberus agent. (Wow, who saw that coming, except everyone.) And there is an assassination attempt on the council. During this whole sequence, I just kept repeating: "This shit wouldn't have happened if Anderson was councilor, like I picked him to be". It just feels contrived.

Those are my main problems with the game overall. Again, I thought that the game was great, and these are some of my thoughts on it. Feel free to share your thoughts or your thoughts on my thoughts. (Now there's a mind-fuck. lol)

1.- totally Agree, it was a mguffin as soon as they introduced it, and it does feel kinda cheap, I refuse to believe spending so many military resources on a giant energy funnel couldnt have gone to making warships.

2.-I can sort of see where they might be coming from, If they survived, each of the characters have become important enough in their own right that it might be difficult to write them into the story as companions, there is also the possibility that the roster is going to get beefed up with DLC, I was glad that at least we got to interact with them and hear great dialogue.

3.-Hey man, Vega was a total Bro during the entire game(after you beat the shit out of him), Garrus and Vega talking Bullshit to each other has to be one of my favorite things in the game, I can understand why people dislike him, but I honestly believe it was more of the initial Backlash of the "JERSEY SHORE" thing, even Chobot is completely harmless in the game.

4.- I agree this one requires a bit of a leap in logic, but ultimately it doesnt get thrown in the face of players so much as to cause concern, I mean technically it could be argued that Shep talked to wrex about it in a "Meta" kind of way, but Ill just list it as a minor inconsistancy that doesnt really affect the main plot of the game.

5.- If you talk to Udina, its inferred that Anderson Stepped down to cover Sheps ass for the Alpha relay incident, but I do agree that it wasnt made clear enough so it becomes a WTF moment for lots of people.

 

[Smeggs]

1. I just sort of rolled with it. I was expecting it to send out an energy pulse that would turn the reapers into empty shells by destroying their special code which was talked about at least eight times in the Quarian/Geth missions.

I was SORELY mistaken at the effect it would have. Sorely, because suddenly I'm talking to Catalyst-god-boy and being forced to make a decision that is not influenced at all by my actions.

1.5. I at least expected I'd get to have an epic bout with Harbinger like that Reaper on Rannoch. But no, we don't even get to see Harbinger.

2. I was at least expecting one mission, or for some of them, SOME OF THEM, to join me. Zaeed had absolutely nothing going on. There was no reason he couldn't join me. Same goes for Samara. She literally was ON EARTH as it was where she was needed. Well, that's great, where in the fuck was she then? Saw her on that hologram thing, so why didn't she show up there to help me fight? WHERE SHE WAS NEEDED MOST?

3. I actually liked James after a bit. At first the whole, "Blahblahblah, Loco," got on my nerves, but James turned out to be a pretty cool guy, considering I was expecting "CORPORAL JARHEAD MCMANPUNCH". The whole N7 offer and mentoring him deal kind of made me feel like I had a friend in him.

4. Not only Wrex and TIM, but that one Asari at the bar who was Liara's father knew as well, Along with the entirety of the Asari government. Also, I believe Anderson and Hackett knew as well. How does a giant hideous Yahg keep himself so well hidden and yet an Asari who resembles every member of her race cannot?

5. Yup, yup, yup, that made me mighty angry as well. I also found myself going, "If Anderson was still councilor then this bullshit wouldn't have happened." However I didn't expect Udina to have actually betrayed us. I actually thought it was the Salarian councilor having been indoctrinated trying to get me to assassinate Udina.

I was disappointed when Bioware gave no reasoning for his betrayal other than, "Well, because he was a douche."

And to think, I gained a bit of respect for him after, "They're a bunch of self concerned jackasses, Shepard!"

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Well, This is good.
I thought at first I would really hate Vega, but now he isn't that bad, I mean he could be worse, half the time I can't even tell it's Freddie Prinz Jr. But the squad did really annoy me. Why could they not make it like Mass Effect 2 again? Sure I didn't use everyone vigoursly, but they all at least had advantages. Even if they did limit us, why couldn't I pick who I wanted from 2? (Abiet the exceptions like Thane and Mordin.)
I picked up the game from Mass Effect 2- So my initial impression of Udina was "This guy's a dick and needs to die." And I'm so glad he did.
And yes, the cruicible pissed me off- and looking at the synopsis for the endings- I really understand why people are pissed, I'm just fucking destroyed by that, There is no fucking right answer, Way to be a bunch of trolls, Bioware. Once more, you fail to please anyone.

 

[putowtin]

I want to start off by saying that I thought Mass Effect 3 was great. Some of the best dialogue and game-play in the whole series. However, other than the atrocious ending, it has its share of other problems -- or at least what I found as problems. Also, be warned. There are some spoilers.

1. The Crucible: Why the hell have we never heard of this thing before?

Because they only just found the plans for it on Mars

2. ME 2 characters (and Wrex) getting the shaft

I would have liked to spend more time with some (legion and Mordin) but others (Jacob and Miranda) not so much, and it didn't matter my team was always Garrus and Liara/Tali

3. James Vega: Oh god... Just... oh god.

My Sheps a soldier so I never took James anywhere, but his banter was ok.

4. Everyone seems to know that Liara is the Shadow Broker

The Illusive Man knows as he gave Shepard the info that lead Liara to the Shadow Brokers base, the only other character to mention it is Wrex

5. Udina as the human councilor

It's explained that Anderson quit and Udina took his place on the council, as the other council members refuse to (initially) aid Shepard Udina works with Cerberus, his plan being to overthrow the council so he could use the galaxies provisions to beat the Reapers attacking earth.

I love the game, there are very few flaws (apart from the one we won't talk about at this moment) and most of the things that have been annoying me are glitches/bugs (characters not looking at each other in conversations or being missing completley) not the story itself.

 

[jensenthejman]

I want to start off by saying that I thought Mass Effect 3 was great. Some of the best dialogue and game-play in the whole series. However, other than the atrocious ending, it has its share of other problems -- or at least what I found as problems. Also, be warned. There are some spoilers.

1. The Crucible: Why the hell have we never heard of this thing before?

Because they only just found the plans for it on Mars

2. ME 2 characters (and Wrex) getting the shaft

I would have liked to spend more time with some (legion and Mordin) but others (Jacob and Miranda) not so much, and it didn't matter my team was always Garrus and Liara/Tali

3. James Vega: Oh god... Just... oh god.

My Sheps a soldier so I never took James anywhere, but his banter was ok.

4. Everyone seems to know that Liara is the Shadow Broker

The Illusive Man knows as he gave Shepard the info that lead Liara to the Shadow Brokers base, the only other character to mention it is Wrex

5. Udina as the human councilor

It's explained that Anderson quit and Udina took his place on the council, as the other council members refuse to (initially) aid Shepard Udina works with Cerberus, his plan being to overthrow the council so he could use the galaxies provisions to beat the Reapers attacking earth.

I love the game, there are very few flaws (apart from the one we won't talk about at this moment) and most of the things that have been annoying me are glitches/bugs (characters not looking at each other in conversations or being missing completley) not the story itself.

I know Anderson resigned in the expanded universe, but that's no excuse. And it still felt like the Crucible came out of nowhere and was just introduced like it was nothing.

 

[AD-Stu]

4. Everyone seems to know that Liara is the Shadow Broker: This is really only made apparent twice, but it's still noticeable all the same. Wrex makes a comment on Sur'Kesh about it in front of Liara, and I was just like "How does he know? He wasn't there. Did somebody tell him?". The Illusive Man also makes a comment on the matter later in the game. I can somewhat understand how he would know, seeing as how information is his weapon of choice and all of that, but it still seems rather suspicious. For two games straight until the ME 2 DLC nobody had any idea who the Shadow Broker was. How is it more available information now? If someone knows the answers to my questions on this matter, please inform me.

I dunno how Wrex knows, but I assume since you've all been buddies since the first game (remember that pretty much your whole squad from ME2 must know Liara is the Shadow Broker, since they were there when it happened) that the news found its way down the grapevine.

As far as The Illusive Man knowing she's the Shadow Broker, that one's easy - he's the one that gave you the information to track down the original Shadow Broker. Also, Liara makes a comment at some point in the game that Cerberus had tracked her down, which is why she dumped the original Shadow Broker ship and moved all the gear to the Normandy.

5. Udina as the human councilor: Thanks Bioware for making my choice from ME 1 mean absolutely nothing. There is a point when it is discovered that Udina is an undercover Cerberus agent. (Wow, who saw that coming, except everyone.) And there is an assassination attempt on the council. During this whole sequence, I just kept repeating: "This shit wouldn't have happened if Anderson was councilor, like I picked him to be". It just feels contrived.

Udina being the 'canon' Councilor was foreshadowed in the books and comics, though I agree they didn't handle it particularly well in the game.

Personally I think the mistake was made all the way back at the end of ME1: they simply shouldn't have given you the choice to appoint Anderson in the first place. Anderson was a terrible choice for the job, it's clear he doesn't want it, and it made no sense for a soldier (even one as well respected as Shepard) to have any input at all in a political appointment.

Since you were given the choice though, they had to fix it so ME3 was this way. You had to have Anderson back on Earth and you have to have a bastard like Udina as the Councilor. I don't believe he was actually an undercover Cerberus agent, BTW - he just got desperate/stupid enough to make a deal with them.

 

[jensenthejman]

4. Everyone seems to know that Liara is the Shadow Broker: This is really only made apparent twice, but it's still noticeable all the same. Wrex makes a comment on Sur'Kesh about it in front of Liara, and I was just like "How does he know? He wasn't there. Did somebody tell him?". The Illusive Man also makes a comment on the matter later in the game. I can somewhat understand how he would know, seeing as how information is his weapon of choice and all of that, but it still seems rather suspicious. For two games straight until the ME 2 DLC nobody had any idea who the Shadow Broker was. How is it more available information now? If someone knows the answers to my questions on this matter, please inform me.

I dunno how Wrex knows, but I assume since you've all been buddies since the first game (remember that pretty much your whole squad from ME2 must know Liara is the Shadow Broker, since they were there when it happened) that the news found its way down the grapevine.

As far as The Illusive Man knowing she's the Shadow Broker, that one's easy - he's the one that gave you the information to track down the original Shadow Broker. Also, Liara makes a comment at some point in the game that Cerberus had tracked her down, which is why she dumped the original Shadow Broker ship and moved all the gear to the Normandy.

5. Udina as the human councilor: Thanks Bioware for making my choice from ME 1 mean absolutely nothing. There is a point when it is discovered that Udina is an undercover Cerberus agent. (Wow, who saw that coming, except everyone.) And there is an assassination attempt on the council. During this whole sequence, I just kept repeating: "This shit wouldn't have happened if Anderson was councilor, like I picked him to be". It just feels contrived.

Udina being the 'canon' Councilor was foreshadowed in the books and comics, though I agree they didn't handle it particularly well in the game.

Personally I think the mistake was made all the way back at the end of ME1: they simply shouldn't have given you the choice to appoint Anderson in the first place. Anderson was a terrible choice for the job, it's clear he doesn't want it, and it made no sense for a soldier (even one as well respected as Shepard) to have any input at all in a political appointment.

Since you were given the choice though, they had to fix it so ME3 was this way. You had to have Anderson back on Earth and you have to have a bastard like Udina as the Councilor. I don't believe he was actually an undercover Cerberus agent, BTW - he just got desperate/stupid enough to make a deal with them.

I actually forgot about the intel, and the original Shadow Broker ship. lol My bad. However, other characters still seem inexplicably know who she is. Like how Smeggs mentioned that the Asari government knows as well.

 

[boag]

I want to start off by saying that I thought Mass Effect 3 was great. Some of the best dialogue and game-play in the whole series. However, other than the atrocious ending, it has its share of other problems -- or at least what I found as problems. Also, be warned. There are some spoilers.

1. The Crucible: Why the hell have we never heard of this thing before?

Because they only just found the plans for it on Mars

2. ME 2 characters (and Wrex) getting the shaft

I would have liked to spend more time with some (legion and Mordin) but others (Jacob and Miranda) not so much, and it didn't matter my team was always Garrus and Liara/Tali

3. James Vega: Oh god... Just... oh god.

My Sheps a soldier so I never took James anywhere, but his banter was ok.

4. Everyone seems to know that Liara is the Shadow Broker

The Illusive Man knows as he gave Shepard the info that lead Liara to the Shadow Brokers base, the only other character to mention it is Wrex

5. Udina as the human councilor

It's explained that Anderson quit and Udina took his place on the council, as the other council members refuse to (initially) aid Shepard Udina works with Cerberus, his plan being to overthrow the council so he could use the galaxies provisions to beat the Reapers attacking earth.

I love the game, there are very few flaws (apart from the one we won't talk about at this moment) and most of the things that have been annoying me are glitches/bugs (characters not looking at each other in conversations or being missing completley) not the story itself.

I know Anderson resigned in the expanded universe, but that's no excuse. And it still felt like the Crucible came out of nowhere and was just introduced like it was nothing.

The Crucible did come out of nowhere, it was stupid plot device that wasnt needed.

I actually forgot about the intel, and the original Shadow Broker ship. lol My bad. However, other characters still seem inexplicably know who she is. Like how Smeggs mentioned that the Asari government knows as well.

Dude, her dad States that she was keeping heavy surveillance on her since she was on Illium, its not that difficult a guess to make.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I want to start off by saying that I thought Mass Effect 3 was great. Some of the best dialogue and game-play in the whole series. However, other than the atrocious ending, it has its share of other problems -- or at least what I found as problems. Also, be warned. There are some spoilers.

1. The Crucible: Why the hell have we never heard of this thing before? It was never mentioned once in the entire series, and then gets introduced so casually, as if most people knew about it all along. That and the Catalyst. Bioware said several times pre-release that there wouldn't be "some magical Reaper off button." Basically meaning no Deus Ex Machina plot device; yet that's exactly what we got.

2. ME 2 characters (and Wrex) getting the shaft: Another thing we were promised was that other characters would return for certain missions, like in Lair of the Shadow Broker. But that didn't happen. What we got was those characters returning, being exciting by getting to use them, and then they just did their own thing in the background while you and the squad you do have handle the hard part. Bioware knew that people wanted Wrex and others like Legion as squad members, but we didn't get them. Yeah, they get to hang around on the Normandy, but why can't you take them with you as long as they're on the ship? Others just flat out refuse to help you at all, because apparently what they've got going on is more important than saving all of galactic civilization. I wanted characters like Wrex and Mordin and Legion, as well as a few others. But that goes to my next problem...

3. James Vega: Oh god... Just... oh god. Why did they feel like this character was necessary? I would have preferred... ANYONE ELSE to him. I tried to give this character a chance, I really did. But no matter what, I found him to be so irritating. Listening to Freddie Prinz Jr. trying to sound Spanish is just cringe-worthy. I remember him being described as representative of new players to the series. Well, what a nice way of pandering to new players who are starting a trilogy at the end. Some may like him, and that's okay, but I didn't care for him at all.

4. Everyone seems to know that Liara is the Shadow Broker: This is really only made apparent twice, but it's still noticeable all the same. Wrex makes a comment on Sur'Kesh about it in front of Liara, and I was just like "How does he know? He wasn't there. Did somebody tell him?". The Illusive Man also makes a comment on the matter later in the game. I can somewhat understand how he would know, seeing as how information is his weapon of choice and all of that, but it still seems rather suspicious. For two games straight until the ME 2 DLC nobody had any idea who the Shadow Broker was. How is it more available information now? If someone knows the answers to my questions on this matter, please inform me.

5. Udina as the human councilor: Thanks Bioware for making my choice from ME 1 mean absolutely nothing. There is a point when it is discovered that Udina is an undercover Cerberus agent. (Wow, who saw that coming, except everyone.) And there is an assassination attempt on the council. During this whole sequence, I just kept repeating: "This shit wouldn't have happened if Anderson was councilor, like I picked him to be". It just feels contrived.

Those are my main problems with the game overall. Again, I thought that the game was great, and these are some of my thoughts on it. Feel free to share your thoughts or your thoughts on my thoughts. (Now there's a mind-fuck. lol)

1. Classic MacGuffin. Not much to be said about this other than "you're right". A MacGuffin alone does not necessarily make for a terrible story...Harry Potter and the Magical MacGuffins turned out alright in the end...but it's hardly a hallmark of sophisticated storytelling, either.

2. I actually thought the game did fan service with all the characters really, really well. I certainly did not want a crew of 20 people, and for once it was nice that everyone's life and schedule did NOT revolve around the player character. But they all made appearances, and all had a little moment in the sun, and I thought it was pretty great.

3. I actually had no issues with Vega at all. I expected to hate him, found him moderately endearing.

4. Meh. It's a good point, but I wasn't too fussed about it. Maybe she's not a very good shadow broker.

5. Agreed in principle, although Anderson returning to the military life makes sense for him as a character, so I'm not too traumatized by it. The Rachni Queen being there whether you spared her or not was more galling to me.

6. Surprised you didn't hammer on poor old Diana Allers.

 

[jensenthejman]

I want to start off by saying that I thought Mass Effect 3 was great. Some of the best dialogue and game-play in the whole series. However, other than the atrocious ending, it has its share of other problems -- or at least what I found as problems. Also, be warned. There are some spoilers.

1. The Crucible: Why the hell have we never heard of this thing before? It was never mentioned once in the entire series, and then gets introduced so casually, as if most people knew about it all along. That and the Catalyst. Bioware said several times pre-release that there wouldn't be "some magical Reaper off button." Basically meaning no Deus Ex Machina plot device; yet that's exactly what we got.

2. ME 2 characters (and Wrex) getting the shaft: Another thing we were promised was that other characters would return for certain missions, like in Lair of the Shadow Broker. But that didn't happen. What we got was those characters returning, being exciting by getting to use them, and then they just did their own thing in the background while you and the squad you do have handle the hard part. Bioware knew that people wanted Wrex and others like Legion as squad members, but we didn't get them. Yeah, they get to hang around on the Normandy, but why can't you take them with you as long as they're on the ship? Others just flat out refuse to help you at all, because apparently what they've got going on is more important than saving all of galactic civilization. I wanted characters like Wrex and Mordin and Legion, as well as a few others. But that goes to my next problem...

3. James Vega: Oh god... Just... oh god. Why did they feel like this character was necessary? I would have preferred... ANYONE ELSE to him. I tried to give this character a chance, I really did. But no matter what, I found him to be so irritating. Listening to Freddie Prinz Jr. trying to sound Spanish is just cringe-worthy. I remember him being described as representative of new players to the series. Well, what a nice way of pandering to new players who are starting a trilogy at the end. Some may like him, and that's okay, but I didn't care for him at all.

4. Everyone seems to know that Liara is the Shadow Broker: This is really only made apparent twice, but it's still noticeable all the same. Wrex makes a comment on Sur'Kesh about it in front of Liara, and I was just like "How does he know? He wasn't there. Did somebody tell him?". The Illusive Man also makes a comment on the matter later in the game. I can somewhat understand how he would know, seeing as how information is his weapon of choice and all of that, but it still seems rather suspicious. For two games straight until the ME 2 DLC nobody had any idea who the Shadow Broker was. How is it more available information now? If someone knows the answers to my questions on this matter, please inform me.

5. Udina as the human councilor: Thanks Bioware for making my choice from ME 1 mean absolutely nothing. There is a point when it is discovered that Udina is an undercover Cerberus agent. (Wow, who saw that coming, except everyone.) And there is an assassination attempt on the council. During this whole sequence, I just kept repeating: "This shit wouldn't have happened if Anderson was councilor, like I picked him to be". It just feels contrived.

Those are my main problems with the game overall. Again, I thought that the game was great, and these are some of my thoughts on it. Feel free to share your thoughts or your thoughts on my thoughts. (Now there's a mind-fuck. lol)

1. Classic MacGuffin. Not much to be said about this other than "you're right". A MacGuffin alone does not necessarily make for a terrible story...Harry Potter and the Magical MacGuffins turned out alright in the end...but it's hardly a hallmark of sophisticated storytelling, either.

2. I actually thought the game did fan service with all the characters really, really well. I certainly did not want a crew of 20 people, and for once it was nice that everyone's life and schedule did NOT revolve around the player character. But they all made appearances, and all had a little moment in the sun, and I thought it was pretty great.

3. I actually had no issues with Vega at all. I expected to hate him, found him moderately endearing.

4. Meh. It's a good point, but I wasn't too fussed about it. Maybe she's not a very good shadow broker.

5. Agreed in principle, although Anderson returning to the military life makes sense for him as a character, so I'm not too traumatized by it. The Rachni Queen being there whether you spared her or not was more galling to me.

6. Surprised you didn't hammer on poor old Diana Allers.

I didn't mind Diana Allers. I didn't dislike James because of the Jersey Shore thing some people said that he was like. I just didn't care for his personality. I apologize if that's how people interpreted what I meant by my dislike for him.

 

[DustyDrB]

I have only two complaints besides the ending:
Shepard speaks way too much on his own: From start to finish, this was jarring for me. Why did they do this? I get to decide what Shepard is like, down to how inquisitive he is (my main Renegade Shepard rarely "investigates" anything. It's not in his nature). This really bugged me.

Textures/Models failing to load: I'm usually not picky about graphical issues, but these happened in big moments and made some key scenes a bit silly. Garrus was invisible during all of Thessia's dialogue. So his voice would come out of a wall. And then Shepard would kind of...skip around during some scenes (notably during one with Liara).

Edit:

One more thing: The collector's edition robot dog sucks.

Another thing: I originally typed "robot duck". That would have been awesome.

 

[Emiscary]

I agree with OP almost point for point. I took issue with these things, and yeah I was a little sad about each one (dear GOD I wish I could've had an off switch attached to our vaguely racist all together unnecessary bullet magnet) but they weren't deal breakers for me. If they were the only problems with ME3 I'd probably be joking casually about them with a friend in between discussing which of had the ending that better reflected the sum of their choices. But alas I live in reality where I'm so disillusioned with gaming I'm seriously considering getting a real hobby.

 

[Smiley Face]

1. They're clearly pulling the Catalyst and the Crucible out of nowhere, and it was always obvious they were going to do that - this is a series where people having space magic is a given and the major threat was still very unclear, it had to come from nowhere.

2. There were so many ME2 characters that they couldn't NOT give them the shaft, especially since all of them might or might not die at some point along the way, and I feel that giving each of them a little face time, with some making major appearances, was the best way to handle it.

3. Vega wasn't that bad - I mean, he wasn't particularly interesting, but neither are Ashley or Kaidan.

4. Knowing Liara is the Shadow Broker would be problematic, but since the whole Normandy knew, I can see how Wrex would find out, and the Illusive Man would have been heavily monitoring Liara and the Normandy - and seeing Liara suddenly stop her search for the Shadow Broker would have given him enough hints to figure it out.

5. The plan was to have Anderson on Earth. They could have just had Anderson as a Councilor stay behind, promote Udina in his stead, and everything would be the same - but I don't think it would make much of a difference - in fact, having the status quo change like that helps lend to the impression that time has passed. It's not as if Anderson WASN'T the councilor in ME2, that would have been a jerk move.

 

[The Wykydtron]

1. Well at least the Magical All Powerful Reaper Ownage Device was introduced during hour one. Now they don't need to pull a Deus Ex Mach- Oh.

2. So many characters, so little time. Though there could have been one or two more squadmates... I did choose to just leave Ashley off the Normandy (+25!) because, well, she's Ashley. And I didn't feel as if there was anything missing from the game without that Prothean thing walking around.

3. Vega is pretty decent all things considered, like a cooler version of Kaiden. His fight scene was really good. Would have liked to see Shep vs Garrus as well thinking about it.

4. Everyone is TIM and Wrex now? News to me.

5. Anderson obviously didn't want the damn job, why wouldn't he give it to the more politically minded guy? He was councilor in ME2 what more do you want?

Really my only problems were the ending (i'm over it now, unlike the entire rest of the Internet apparently.) And the occasional Invisible Tali, I know she's awesome but invisibility? Didn't know you were an Infiltrator Tali.

 

[DustyDrB]

game without that Prothean thing walking around.

3. Vega is pretty decent all things considered, like a cooler version of Kaiden. His fight scene was really good. Would have liked to see Shep vs Garrus as well thinking about it.

I didn't hate Vega as a character, but I did hate the fight scene. Why? Shepard spoke on his own the whole time (except for interrupts). Ahh...it makes me cringe every time he speaks without me picking the dialogue.

 

[Zen Toombs]

5. Udina as the human councilor: Thanks Bioware for making my choice from ME 1 mean absolutely nothing. There is a point when it is discovered that Udina is an undercover Cerberus agent. (Wow, who saw that coming, except everyone.) And there is an assassination attempt on the council. During this whole sequence, I just kept repeating: "This shit wouldn't have happened if Anderson was councilor, like I picked him to be". It just feels contrived.

-snip-

My understanding was that in the books, Anderson steps down for Udina. He did so because, let's be honest, Anderson isn't a politician and hates political BS while Udina is political_BS.characer

It would have been better for them to explain that though.

 

[Simeon Ivanov]

I completely agree with OP.